Your supervisor
You will be allocated a supervisor who is a member of staff in the Department. Your supervisor is allocated to you when you arrive and is there to help and advise you on all aspects of life at University. Supervisors have three principle functions:
to provide advice on and support for your academic progress;
to support your personal development and acquisition of academic and employability skills;
to provide general pastoral guidance, assisting you to identify appropriate specialist support should you require it.
You will meet your supervisor a minimum of once per semester to discuss your academic progress and check all is well with you and your studies. This is an important point of academic contact for all students. Your supervisor will encourage you to develop your academic and personal skills and can also act as a referee for any applications you might make in the future.
They can advise what to do if things go wrong and refer you to the right people in the University for help with more personal matters.
More information on the role of the supervisor is available on the website.
Meeting with your supervisor
A personal supervision appointment will be scheduled on your timetable each semester. If you are unable to attend a supervisory meeting you must contact your supervisor to re-arrange the meeting.
If you require an appointment with your supervisor in addition to the scheduled termly one, you will need to make an appointment via email or telephone to organise this. You and your supervisor will then arrange a convenient time for you both to meet.
Records of your meeting will be stored on Evision and accessible by you and your supervisor. On occasion these may be accessed by other staff if necessary, for example for continuity purposes if you change supervisor.
Procedure for changing your supervisor
Ideally, you should have the same supervisor throughout your time here but, if your supervisor is away for an extended period, you will be allocated a different supervisor.
Occasionally, the supportive relationship that we hope will develop fails to do so. You are encouraged to discuss any difficulties with your supervisor to try to resolve these. However, if you find that you cannot communicate well with your supervisor, for whatever reason, then talk to your programme leader, the Chair of the Board of Studies, or if you prefer, contact one of the other support services. Undergraduate students can change supervisor without giving a reason.
Other roles
Programme lead
The programme lead is responsible for the management of the three-year programme. The programme is split into three stages equivalent to year one, year two and year three.
Deputy Programme lead
The deputy programme lead supports the programme lead and overall delivery of the programme. In the programme lead’s absence, they will deputise as required.
Lead Midwife for Education (LME)
Each educational institution has a Lead Midwife for Education (LME). The LME is the person named to:
receive correspondence from and liaise with the NMC in relation to midwifery education.
liaise with students, practice assessors, supervisors, service managers and University officers in situations requiring significant alteration or suspension of education.
oversee and monitor standards of midwifery education.
Designated Midwife Substitute
The role of the designated midwife substitute is to sign declarations of health and character when the LME is not available to do so
Stage leader
The stage lead oversees the smooth running of the stage during the three-year programme, in relation to all theory and practice issues.
Module leader
The module leader is responsible for co-ordinating module-specific learning activities and the provision of academic support and guidance regarding the module assessments. They are also responsible (along with members of the module team) for marking module assessments.